20世纪重大发明TOP10
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译者superklt
Top 10 Inventions of the 20th Century
Top 10 Inventions of the 20th Century
There can be no doubt that the twentieth century is one of the most remarkable in human history for its previously unparalleled rate of technological advances and scientific discoveries, a rate that continues to this day. In fact, there were so many new gadgets invented and discoveries made in the last century that it’s difficult to pare the list down to just the ten (which is why there will be a number of glaring omissions from my list). However, I think I have managed to whittle it down to those ten innovations or technologies that have had the greatest influence on humanity—both positively and the negatively. And so, without further ado and in no particular order, here are my nominees for the
ten greatest inventions/discoveries of the twentieth century:
10、核能 9、个人电脑 It’s difficult to imagine our world today without computers. Of course, they have been around since World War Two, but they were 8. The Airplane Just as the locomotive made the world a smaller place in the 正如19世纪的世界因蒸汽机车的出现而发生变化一样,飞机的出现让20世纪的世界变得更加触手可及。一个人只需要几个小时便可到达这世界上的任何一个角落。它不仅使旅行更加安全便捷,而且具有更广泛的用途:从喷洒农药、森林灭火、长距离运输、到追踪飓风的足迹,样样精通。它也升级了战争的模式,拉长了战场的纵深,精密武器的有效打击距离左右了战场形势。总之,战争的面貌因此而完全改变。当然,飞机的出现让所有城市地位相同的同时,也将战争的影响带给了平民,要知道,在20世纪之前,平民很少会受到战争的直接伤害。不过话又说回来,任何发明都不会是完美的。 在19世纪,汽车在欧洲的发展并未使之成为一种实用的、可以信赖的交通运输方式。但它在20世纪做到了,世界随之而改变。一夜之间,马儿和马车成为了古怪的不入流的玩意儿,几乎所有的国家都在拓宽道路铺设一条又一条的沥青路。汽车的出现同时改变了商业的面貌,大量货物的交易成为了可能。最重要的是,亨利福特的流水生产线将一辆辆便宜的汽车送进了千家万户(在福特模式出现的1908年之前,只有富商大贾才买的起一辆小轿车)。汽车赋予了我们父辈们不敢想象的便捷与自由。 6、火箭技术 在3000年,中国人就已经发明而使用了火箭。随后的岁月里,希腊人和罗马人也间或使用过火箭。但是,这统统只是些令人目眩的把戏或者吓唬古代敌人的有效工具而已,规模够大,用处却小。在20世纪,“火箭”才真正成了火箭。火箭变得更大也更有破坏性。重要的是,它更高的可控性使之成为了战争中有效的武器,而且,这也是探索外太空的基石。没有了火箭,我们也就不可能到达月球或者任何一个太阳系的星球。没有了火箭,卫星就到不了地球的轨道,因此我们也就无法使用全球定位系统,预测明天的天气,打国际长途,甚至,大部分时间里我们对电话也触之不及。 尽管能够潜到水下的船只早已出现(见内战期间的CSS HUNLEY号),而且第一艘潜水艇发明于19世纪80年代,但值到20世纪现代意义的潜水艇才算出现。刚开始在一战期间,潜艇只是个较为致命但大多数时候只是让人比较生气懊恼的东西。但二战期间,它已经能够下潜到无与伦比的深度,潜艇发展成为了令人毛骨悚然的的武器。在今天,拥有核动力的潜艇可以近乎无限制的巡航,这也使其成为了现在世界上一流海军的主力战舰。老式的海上战争因此作废。那么,现代潜艇到底有多牛?问问任何一个在上面服役过的人吧,他们会告诉你,这个世界上只有两种舰船,一是潜艇,另一个是标靶。剩下的就不多说啦。 Until Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, almost any little bug that someone picked up was potentially fatal. Once penicillin—and later a whole range of other antibiotics—came on the scene, however, death due to 好吧,我承认它有损大脑细胞,它损害人的情绪和心理,但是,如果真没有了电视机,我们会是啥样?它是社会的贴心小保姆,新鲜事的来源、万能的教育家、实用的找乐工具和滔滔不绝的故事大王。当然,在会利用的人手中,电视有时还是很有用的。虽然,在大部分时间里,它只是让我们的生活充满了乏味与无趣,以及各种各样空洞令人厌恶的商业广告。但也正是这个简单但却不普通的原因让千家万户的生活发生了改变。他们离开了厨房和餐厅,而选择坐在客厅的沙发上,聚在一起边看着电视边享用着着各种微波食品和汽水。所以可以理解,尽管我们假装厌恶它,但仍然无法克制的想知道今晚演啥。而且更糟的是,没有了电视,大部分的人就不知道该做些什么了,也许这是最令人悲哀的。 电脑成功的让打字机下了课,让速写员下了岗,但因特网才真正让电脑成为了当今世界的魔兽。飞机缩小了地球,六个小时让我们从纽约飞到伦敦,而因特网,几秒钟就能做到。它让真理和真相突破了专制国家的封锁,它是星星之火点燃了革命的曙光,它也让谎言光速般蔓延。借助于因特网,只有想不到,没有买不到和卖不了。借助于因特网,你可以找到你的校园伙伴并开个哈皮的玩笑,你可以看到最新的you-tube视频,甚至找到最完美的半边天。所有的所有,一个月只需要几块钱。对了,当然你可以找到一些有用的信息,只要你不介意通过15,000次点击才能查到问题的答案:一只蜗牛到底能活多久。没有了电脑,我们现在会是怎样? 1. Radio Few people today can appreciate the impact the advent of 1、收音机 今天的人们很少能够感受到20世纪时,收音机的出现所带来的影响。它让一个人的声音,可以在不用线缆的情况下,被成百上千英里外的人所听到(这个世纪最开始的几年这也是个伟大的成就)。它也是二战末期以及50年代的忧郁萧瑟时期,人们家庭生活的中心,尽管随后它便被电视这个新奇的玩意儿所取代。在今天,似乎只有在开车时为了防止打瞌睡,或者脱口秀节目试图让大众亢奋起来时,收音机才变得有点用处。但是不要忘了,今天的电视、电脑、微波炉和手机对我们有多重要,那个时代的收音机就有多重要。10. Nuclear Power
Nuclear power was to the twentieth century what steam power had been to the nineteenth: a game changer. Suddenly humanity had a power source that didn’t pollute, was efficient and practically unlimited, and so had the potential to change the planet overnight. Unfortunately, it was a
However, it is hard to deny the overall positive impact nuclear power has had. The fear of mutually assured destruction probably prevented the world from experiencing a third world
9. The Personal Computer
在21世纪的今天,很难想象一个没有电脑的世界。当然,第二次世界大战的时候电脑就出现了,但那真是一个愚笨、庞大、昂贵的玩意,活像一个会计算的大砖头。但当1976年,Steve Wozniak 和Stephen Jobs发明了苹果电脑时候,照他们所说,除了历史,一切都改变了。毫无疑问,今天的电脑存在于每一个角落。人们极度依赖于电脑,没了它,很多人就会觉得自己像个光屁股的猴子。甚至对一部分人来说,他们以此来维持自身最基本的生活:用电脑时刻管理着自己的资产,用电脑写书,用电脑设计艺术标识,用电脑售卖房产。而且,他们不断更新换代着立体声系统和电视,力所能及且乐此不疲的用音乐、电影和游戏武装着自己。我们的祖先没用过电脑,但居然也生活的不错,这在今天实在难以理解,不是吗?(图片:苹果1,1976年)
8. 飞机
7. The Automobile
Though under development in Europe during the nineteenth century, the automobile didn’t really become a practical and reliable source of transportation until the twentieth century. Once it did, it changed everything; overnight the horse and buggy became quaint anachronisms while much of the country was paved over to make room for endless ribbons of asphalt. It also brought about a revolution in the market place, suddenly making it possible to truck in goods that otherwise would be impossible to acquire. Most of all, Henry Ford’s assembly-line production style made the automobile affordable and accessible to the average person (before Ford’s Model T was introduced in 1908, only the fabulously wealthy could afford a car).
7.汽车
6. Rocketry
While the rocket was first invented and used by the Chinese over three thousand years ago—and used occasionally by the Greeks and Romans since —it wasn’t until the twentieth century that it came into its own and became more than just a dazzling amusement or a largely harmless but still effective “terror weapon” for ancient armies. In the twentieth century, rockets became bigger and more powerful. Most importantly, they became controllable, which suddenly made them useful both as weapons of war and, even more vitally, as our means of accessing outer space. Without the rocket, it is safe to say we would not only have never gone to the moon or visited every planet in our solar system. Rockets also place satellites into orbit around our planet, so without them we also wouldn’t be able to use GPS, predict the weather, make international calls or, for the most part, even use our cell phones much of the time.
5. The Submarine
Though submersible vessels had been used in the past (the CSS Hunley during the Civil War) and the first true submarine was invented in the 1880’s, it wasn’t until the twentieth century that
4. Antibiotics
3. Television
Yes, I know it destroys brain cells and renders people emotionally and psychologically damaged, but really, where would we be without the boob tube? It is society’s baby-sitter, news source, teacher, entertainer, and story-teller. When in competent hands, television can even be useful at times. Mostly, though, it fills our days with vapidity and all manner of inane and obnoxious commercials, and is the single greatest reason that families no longer eat in the kitchen or dining room anymore, but instead huddle in the living room around their
3、电视机
2. The Internet
The computer rendered the typewriter obsolete and made writing in long-hand a thing of the past, but it took the internet to truly turn the computer into the monster it is today. While the airplane shrank our planet to the point that one could fly from New York to London in six hours,
2、因特网